Cigar packaging



R. B. TAMARIN CIGAR PACKAGING f May 3, 1966 Filed Feb; 23, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 3, 1966 R. B. TAMARIN 3,249,212

CIGAR PACKAGING Filed Feb. 23, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent C) 3,249,212 CIGAR PACKAGHNG Richard B. Tamarin, 1020 Kipling Road, Rydal, Pa. Filed Feb. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 434,435 12 Claims. (Cl. 206-4L2) This invention relates to packaging of cigars or other generally cylindrical articles and concerns especially a dispensing container therefor.

Conventional cigar packages or the like require the opening of a ap or slide to provide access to the contents. Not only is that often awkward but usually the entire contents are so expose-d simultaneously, with consequent risk of spillage.

A primary object of the present invention is provision of a dispensing container for cigars or similar cylindrical articles.

Another object is packaging of cigars or like articles in such a way as to retain them securely while exposing a major portion of one of the articles to View at a location from which it is adapted to be dispensed readily by simple manipulation.

v A further object is accomplishment of the above objects by means of a folding packaging blank of sheet material.

Other objects of this invention, together with means and methods for attaining the above objects, will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying diagrams.

FIG. l is a perspective view of a cigar package of the present invention, showing the front, top, and one side thereof;

FIG. 2 is -a perspective view of the package of FIG. 1, showing the back, top, and other side thereof;

FIG. 3 is a sectional plan of the package of the preceding views, taken at III-III on FIG. l; and

' FIG. 4 is a side elevation, taken from the side visible in FIG. l, partly brokeny away, and with a finger shown juxtaposed thereto and dispensing a cigar (shown partly in broken lines).

FIG. 5 is a view of a packaging blank, shown flat, adapted to form the package of the preceding views; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view, in the at, of another embodiment of packaging blank of this invention.

In general, the objects of the present invention are accomplished, in a container for similar cylindrical articles arranged side by side ina row, by having in one wall an elongated opening as wide as one of the articles and approaching in length the article length, and having in another wall a smaller opening located opposite the elongated opening in the lirst wall. The invention comprehends formation of such Ia container from a foldable packaging blank.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show from Ythe front and rear, respectively, in perspective, package 11 vaccording to this invention. The package comprises container 12 and a plurality of cigars 13 contained therein. The package may include also an enveloping wrapper of cellophane or other preferably transparent sheet material, with or without a rip tape to facilitate its removal, but showing of such conventional package components is omitted as superfluous, and self-evident to persons familiar with the packaging art. The cigars are shown individually wrapped in like material, which may be omitted, if desired, when an outer wrapper surrounds the container and contents. The package has the usual conguration of a right rectangular parallelepiped, with solid surfaces at top 14 and bottom 15 and at narrow side walls 16 and 18. Wide front and back walls 17 and 19, respectively are partly cut out, revealing a portion of the contents therethrough.

Front wall 17 has elongated opening or slot 26 extending along the junction with narrow side wall 18 from C 3,249,212 Ice Patented May 3, 1965 near the top to somewhat less near the bottom. Back wall 19 is cut out in a circular opening or aperture 30 at the upper left corner in FIG. 2, from about the junction with narrow side wall 18 and spaced -fromthe top by a distance approximating its radius; aperture 30 is, therefore, located opposite the upper portion of slot 26, with the upper portion of end cigar 13 in the row located therebetween.

FIG. 3 shows, in sectional plan, package 11 sectioned at the level of aperture 30. Five cigars 13 are enclosed in container 12, with the cigar at the right end of the row being adjacent aperture 30 at the back and slot 26 at the front. FIG. 4 shows, in side elevation and partly in section, the dispensing of that end cigar by insertion of 'a iinger in aperture 30, tilting the cigar outward from the top through slot 26. The striplike portion of front wall 17 visible at the lower left, where the container is sectioned away in this view, restrains the cigar at its lower end until the upper end is tilted sufliciently to be withdrawn between thumb and foreinger.

After such removal of the cigar originally located at the end of the row, the package is tapped or tilted to slide the next cigar in place against the narrow side wall an-d between the opposed aperture and slot, for dispensing through the slot in like manner whenever desired. The entire contents are readily dispensed in this magazine fashion, either one after another in rapid succession or at extended intervals of time, as desired.

FIG, 5 shows, in the ilat, packaging blank 21 of sheet material Iadapted to fold to form the container of the preceding views, the junctions between Wall panels and the various liaps adjoined thereto being scored as indicated to facilitate folding. In addition to the wide `front 1'7 land back 19 and narrow side 16 and 18 wall panels, this view also shows lap panel 20 adjoining the back; coated with adhesive (indicated by hatching) this panel folds inside (as shown in FIG. 3) against narrow wall panel 16 located at the opposite edge of the blank. Adjoining the top land bottom of the back panel are lap ilaps 24 and 25, respectively, which fold inside against respective top and bottom flaps 14 and 15 and, being coated with adhesive, adhere thereto as lap panel 20 adheres to narrow Wall panel 16, thereby securely enclosing the contents.

Visible in front wall panel 17 in FIG. 5 is slit 27 outlining reinforcing flap 28, which occupies the place of slot 26 in the completed container; adjoining the junction to narrow wall panel 18, the reinforcing flap is foldable to the inside and against that wall panel, to which it adheres by virtue of adhesive on one of them, located on the reverse face thereof from the generally exterior face shown in this view. The result is a double layer of sheet material at the right narrow wall of the container, as well :as at the left, as is visible in the sectional View of FIG. 3. The packaging blank is formed in conventional manner 'by die-cutting, the slitting and scoring thereof being desira-bly accomplished in the same operation. The circle of sheet material punched out to form aperture 30 is stripped out conventionally also. While the actual folding of the packaging blank to enclose a row of cigars or the like may be accomplished by hand in obvious manner, as may the cutting, slitting, and scoring of the blank, it also is most conveniently performed by machine in a manner well known to persons skilled in the art.

No special materials are required. The blank is conveniently made of a good grade of paper such as is conventionally used in cigar packages or the like. Alternatively, it can be formed of foldable plastic material. If desired, the container may be formed of plastic material by deep-drawing, extrusion, molding, or other conventional technique, and the openings therein formed concurrently or subsequently as preferred. Polystyrene and polypropylene are examples of suitable plastic materials.

FIG. 6 shows, also in the fiat, the upper portion of another embodiment of packaging b-lank according to this invention the lower portion thereof (not shown) being like that of the blank shown in FIG. or taking any other suitable form. While packaging blank 121 of FIG. 6 differs from packaging blank of FIG. 5 in certain details, mentioned below, many of the parts of the respective blanks correspond, as will be apparent from the illustration, and corresponding parts of blank 121 are denoted by reference numerals differing by 100 from those of blank 21. Only the marked differences will be discussed below.

Packaging blank 121 has tuck ap 124 adjoining top fiap 114, which extends from the top edge of front wall panel 117. When the blank is folded into container form the tuck iiap is inserted removably between the kcontents and the inside of rear Wall 119, which has indentation 134 centered along its top edge. The top end po-rtion of slit 127 is square, rather than rounded like slit 27, as may be preferred, for example, when the ends of the articles contained are square, as is true of cigars fitted with holders or tips. Instead of the round opening (30) present in back wall panel 19 of the previous blank, here back wall panel 119 has generally C-shaped slit 131 defining tab 129 threin, the rounded portion of the tab reaching the junction with narrow wall panel 118, and the tab being hinged to the rest of the back panel along a line paralleling the mentioned junction. It will be apparent that manual depression of tab 129 from the back toward the interior of the container will dispense the adjacent cigar o-r like article just as insertion of the finger in aperture 30 did in the container formed from blank 21.

If the user desires to empty the container formed from blank 121 all at once, rather than magazine fashion as previously described in the instance of the previous embodiment, he simply may Withdraw the tuck flap and dispense the contents in .conventional manner through the open top. Of course, the tuck liap may be used on a container having an aperture cut out of the rear wall, and a tab (instead of a complete aperture) may be used in a sealed-top container as well as in a container with a tuck flap for the end closure. Other modifications and variations may be made in the packaging blanks and containers illustrated and described, while retaining all or some of the benefits and advantages of the present invention, which is defined in the following claims.

The claimed invention:

1. A container for similar cylindrical articles arranged side by side in a single row, comprising a pair of walls respectively adjacent opposite sides of each article in the row, having in one of the walls an elongated opening as wide as one of the articles and approaching in length the article length and adapted to dispense the articles singly therethrough, and having in the other of the walls a smaller opening located opposite the elongated opening in the first wall and adapted to receive means for displacing through the elongated opening each of the articles aligned successively therewith.

2. A package comprising a plurality of similar cylindrical articles contiguously arranged side by side in a single row and a surrounding container having a pair of parallel wall along opposite long sides ofthe row, one of the walls having therein a slot adjacent one of the articles, the slot being as wide as an article and approaching in length the larticle length, the other of the walls havin-g therein an aperture adjacent the same one of the artic-les and nearer one end thereof than the opposite end the articles being adapted to be aligned one at a time with the slot and dispensed one by one upon ilateral displacement therethrough by insertion of a finger or the like through the adjacent aperture inthe opposite wall.

3. A container rectangular in plan for cigars or similar cylindrical articles contiguously arranged side by side in a single row, having a pair of wide walls parallel to one another and a pair of narrow walls parallel to one another perpendicular to and joining the wide Walls, one of the wide walls having a dispensing slot therein adjacent one of the narrow walls and extending over a major part of the wide wall length, and the other wide wall having therein an aperture opposite one end of the slot in the first wide wall.

4. A package comprising a plurality of cigars or similar cylindrical articles contiguously arranged side by side in a single row, and a surrounding container of parallelepipedal configuration, with the ends of the container being located adjacent the ends of the articles, a pair of mutually parallel wide walls and a pair of mutually parallel narrow walls joining the ends, one of the wide walls being cut lout for most of its length along its junction with one of the narrow walls in a slot configuration adjacent the article at one end of the row and as wide as the article, the other wide wall being cut out in a smaller configuration adjacent an end portion of the same article but large enough to admit the end of a finger to displace the article laterally and through the slot.

5. In a portable dispensing container for cigars or similar cylindrical articles contiguously arranged side by side in a single row, a pair of walls flanking the long sides of the row, a tinger hole in one wall adjacent a corner therein, and a dispensing slot in the opposite wall extending from a location oppoiste the finger ho-le and parallel to the lengthwise direction of the articles away from one end toward the opposite end but terminating with greater space between the opposite end of the slot and the end of the wall near the opposite end of the container than the first end of the slot is spaced from the first end.

6. In a portable dispensing package a plurality of cigars or similar cylindrical articles contiguously arranged side by side in a single row, and a surrounding container having a pair of wide walls flanking the long sides of the row, the article at one end of the row being exposed through a slot in one of the wide walls, the slot extending longitudinally from adjacent one end portion of the end article in the row nearly to the opposite end portion and widthwise for the width of the article, the opposite wall being partially open adjacent the iirst end portion of the end article in the row, whereby the end article may be displaced laterally by manual contact with that end portion to dispense it outwardvthrough the slot in the opposite wall.

7. In a portable dispensing package a plurality of cigars or similar cylindrical articles contiguously arranged side -by side in a single row, and a surrounding container having a pair of wide walls flanking the long sides of the row, a pair of narrow walls fianking the shorter ends of the row and joining the wide walls, and a pair of permanently closed end surfaces joining the wide and narrow walls and covering the ends of the articles in the row, the article at one end of the row being exposed through a slot in one of the wide walls along its junction with one of the narrow Walls, one end of the slot being spaced further from the adjacent end surface than the opposite end of the slot is spaced from the opposite end surface, the opposite ends of the slot being spaced apart less than the article length and the sides of the slot being spaced apart the article Width, the opposite wall being partially open adjacent the first end portion of the end article in the row, whereby an end of the end article may be displaced laterally by manual contact with that end portion to dispense it outward through the slot in the opposite wall.

8. In a packaging blank foldable to form a container of rectangular plan for cigars or similar cylindrical articles arranged in a row, a pair of wide wall panels iianking and joined to a narrow wall panel, one of the wide panels being cut out in dispensing slot configuration along its junction with the narrow panel, and the other wide panel being cut out in an aperture configuration at a location corresponding to one end of the slot configuration in the other wide panel.

9. In a packaging blank foldable to form a container of rectangular plan for cigars or similar cylindrical articles, a pair of wide wall panels flanking and joined to a narrow wall panel, one of the Wide panels being slit parallel to its junction with the narrow panel at a location spaced therefrom by the width of one of the articles to be contained in the container folded therefrom, the slit extending therealong for a distance approaching the article length and being joined at its ends to the panel junction, and the other wide panel being cut out in an aperture configuration at a location corresponding to one end of the slit configuration in the other wide panel.

10. In a packaging blank foldable to form a container of rectangular plan for cigars or similar cylindrical articles, a pair of wide wall panels flanking and joined to a narrow wall panel, one of the wide panels being slit parallel to its junction with the narrow panel at a location spaced therefrom by the width of one of the articles to be contained in the container folded therefrom, the slit extending therealong for a distance approaching the article length and being joined at its ends to the panel junction, and the other wide panel being slit in a generally C-shaped configuration bordering the junction with the narrow panel at a location corresponding to one end of the slit configuration in the other Wide panel.

11. A packaging blank foldable to form a parallelepipedal container for cigars or similar cylindrical articles, comprising a pair of wide Wall panels flanking and joined to a narrow wall panel each of the wide wall panels having joined to its opposite edge one of a pair of other narrow panels, one of the yother narrow panels being a wall panel and the other being a lap panel therefor, and top and bottorn closure flaps attached to at least one of the wide wall panels, the wide wall panels being cut out at locations flanking the first narrow wall panel, the cut-out por-tion of one wide wall panel being elongated and bordering the junction with the first narrow wall panel for most of the length thereof, and the cut-out portion of the other wide wall panel being located opposite a portion of the cut-out portion of the rst wide wall panel.

12. In a portable dispensing package a plurality of cigars or similar cylindrical articles contiguously arranged side by side in a single row, and a surrounding container having a pair of wide walls flanking the long sides of the row, the article at one end of the row being exposed through a slot in one of the wide walls, the slot extending longitudinally from adjacent one end portion of the end article in the row nearly to the opposite end portion and widthwise for the width of the article, the opposite wall having a tab hinged therein adjacent the first end portion of the end article in the row, whereby the end article may be displaced laterally by manual depression of the tab toward the end portion thereof to dispense the article outward through the slot in the opposite wall.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 943,879 12/1909 Hurley 312-73 1,276,326y 8/ 1918 Casper. 1,916,1119 6/1933 Schwartz, et al. 2,391,301 12/ 1945 Dukehart 206-63.2 2,669,380 2/ 1954 Grenier 229-15 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

J. M. CASKIE, Assistant Examiner. 

12. IN A PORTABLE DISPENSING PACKAGE A PLURALITY OF CIGARS OR SIMILAR CYLINDRICAL ARTICLES CONTIGUOUSLY ARRANGED SIDE BY SIDE IN A SINGLE ROW, AND A SURROUNDING CONTAINER HAVING A PAIR OF WIDE WALLS FLANKING THE LONG SIDES OF THE ROW, THE ARTICLE AT ONE END OF THE ROW BEING EXPOSED THROUGH A SLOT IN ONE OF THE WIDE WALLS, THE SLOT EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY FROM ADJACENT ONE END PORTION OF THE END ARTICLE IN THE ROW NEARLY TO THE OPPOSITE END PORTION AND WIDTHWISE FOR THE WIDTH OF THE ARTICLE, THE OPPOSITE WALL HAVING A TAB HINGED THEREIN ADJACENT THE FIRST END PORTION 